Battling Sickness Brought Home By Your Little Petri Dishes

It always happens, just as you get into your workout groove - your eating clean (mostly), lifting weights AND getting your cardio in - all while juggling being a mommy, wife, maid and chef. You've achieved perfect balance and then WHAM! Some random virus that snuck into your child's backpack crawled out and invaded you. There is no way to avoid this - I wash my hands so frequently they look dehydrated, I use every disinfecting cleaner on the market. So now I am 5 days since my last workout and feel like I can see my muscles shrinking. So what's a Fit Mommy to do? REST!! You have to - I would take 2 days off from my workout, start feeling better, workout for two days and then come crashing down harder than ever. But the struggle is how do you rest AND continue to keep your weight in balance. Here are some suggestions for you:

1. Take your kids outside and play to sneak in some mini exercises that won't tax your body but will keep you on track. If your pushing them on the swings squat between each push, do walking lunges on your walks (who cares if people can see you, you are a Fit Mommy, they will be envious!) Your kids get the benefit of fresh air and exercise and you remove yourself from the temptations in the kitchen.

2. During naptime set aside 15 minutes for a mini ab circuit - bicycles, crunches, hip thrusts, ball twists, planks - whatever you can think of, make up a circuit and do it about 3 times.

3. Finally, remember your recovering, so I repeat this mantra whenever I am in the kitchen and about to reach for something to eat "Will this help me kick this virus and get back to being my healthy Fit Mommy self?" No? Put it back!!

I am taking one more day off and then plan to get right back on track. 6 a.m. run, kids up and ready for the day, then off to the gym to train legs. At least that is the plan - we'll see if we have any middle of the night wake up calls as we did last night (another surefire Fit Mommy derailer!). Check back soon!

Yours in Fitness,

One Fit Mommy